RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to empirically determine subgroups of ADHD defined by specific patterns of psychopathology. METHOD: A clinical sample of 223 children with ADHD, aged 5 to 14 years, was examined with the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). In addition, comorbid psychiatric disorders, psychosocial risk factors, and socioeconomic status were assessed. RESULTS: Cluster analysis of CBCL subscales yielded a solution with four distinct subgroups. While "externalizers" showed a high rate of comorbid oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and conduct disorder (CD), "obsessive-compulsives" exhibited thought problems, low rates of comorbid CD, and high symptoms of inattention. "High psychiatric symptom carriers" had high rates of familial risk factors, acute life events, comorbid ODD, and CD. "Low psychiatric symptom carriers" also scored low in all other variables studied. CONCLUSION: Children with ADHD can be divided into four subgroups according to their CBCL-based psychopathology, and these subgroups differ in their risk factor profiles.
Assuntos
Transtorno do Deficit de Atenção com Hiperatividade/classificação , Transtornos de Deficit da Atenção e do Comportamento Disruptivo/psicologia , Transtorno da Conduta/psicologia , Psicopatologia , Adolescente , Transtorno do Deficit de Atenção com Hiperatividade/epidemiologia , Transtornos de Deficit da Atenção e do Comportamento Disruptivo/epidemiologia , Criança , Análise por Conglomerados , Comorbidade , Transtorno da Conduta/epidemiologia , Manual Diagnóstico e Estatístico de Transtornos Mentais , Feminino , Humanos , Masculino , Escalas de Graduação Psiquiátrica , Fatores de Risco , Fatores SocioeconômicosRESUMO
Children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are impaired in social adaptation and display deficits in social competence. Deficient emotion recognition has been discussed to underlie these social problems. However, comorbid conduct problems have not been considered in the majority of studies conducted so far, and the influence of medication on emotion recognition has rarely been studied. Here, emotion recognition performance was assessed in children with ADHD without medication compared with children with ADHD under stimulant medication and a matched control group. In order to rule out confounding by externalizing symptoms, children with comorbid conduct problems were excluded. Video clips with neutral faces developing a basic emotion (happiness, sadness, disgust, fear and anger) were presented in order to assess emotion recognition. Results indicated between-group differences neither concerning the number of correctly identified emotions nor concerning reaction times and their standard deviations. Thus, we suggest that ADHD per se is not associated with deficits in emotion recognition.
